WILMINGTON, DE (8/23/26) — The Wilmington Blue Rocks lost to the Frederick Keys 7-2 Friday night at Frawley Stadium, winning the second game of Friday’s doubleheader.
Wilmington falls to 60-59 overall and 29-25 in the second half. Frederick improves to 72-44 overall and 31-21 in the second half.
The Blue Rocks pitching held the Keys under two runs again until the Frederick blow Sunday’s game wide open in the seventh.
Euri Montero was on the unfourtunate end of the Keys’ scoring but he wasn’t helped out by his defense. Montero did give up solo home runs to Leandro Arias and Jordan Sanchez. A defensive error by Jorgelys Mota and multiple defensive mistakes didn’t help the righty.
Despite the tough inning, manager Ted Tom thought Montero pitched much better than his numbers suggested.
“I told him that he deserved much better than that,” Tom said. “He made some pitches for us to get out. We didn’t get it done. And it kind of snowballed on him.”
Frederick did score first thanks to Braylin Tavera’s single which skipped by third baseman Angel Feliz, allowing Randal Diaz to score. The Key’s added one more in the fifth when Ethan Anderson hit a ball 10 feet shy of the right center wall for an RBI double.
Carson Fischer kept the Blue Rocks in the game allowing just two runs, one of them earned, six hits, with one strikeout. Fischer, did receive his first loss with Wilmington.
Merrick Baldo provided Wilmington with a solid relief performance, tossing with one and one third innings and striking out two.
For Baldo, the focus remained on staying locked in despite the late-season grind.
“It really is just bearing down,” Baldo said. “It doesn’t matter even if it’s hot out or anything, you have to go out there and you have to compete because this is still a job, still a profession.”
Wilmington did end the shutout when Nate Rombach homered in the eighth inning. Ronny Cruz followed with an RBI double that scored Chris Hacopian, but the Blue Rocks could not mount a larger comeback.
Rombach and Hacopian both tallied two hits and Cruz did reach extra bases once again.
The loss snapped Wilmington’s four-game win streak in the thick of the South Atlantic playoff race.
Just two weeks remain for Tom and his team to push towards the postseason and for Tom, the message has not changed as the season winds down.
“The message is very much the same,” Tom said. “We’re preparing to finish the season, but it’s not into the offseason. It’s into the next phase of their development. So they need to keep their foot on the pedal and keep pushing forward.”
Wilmington will have a day off Monday before beginning its final road trip of the regular season Tuesday against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws.